People are in love with this heartwarming story about a flight attendant who comforted a little girl with a serious fear of flying.
Erika Swart's oldest daughter Gabby has severe flight anxiety as well as type 1 diabetes. So when Erika had to fly with Gabby and two younger children without her husband to help out, it was a struggle.
As soon as the plane started to take off, 9-year-old Gabby panicked. She had a hard time at various points throughout the trip, like when the plane hit turbulence. At one point, her blood sugar dropped dangerously low.
But luckily, Erika didn't have to attempt to support her daughter all alone. A Southwest flight attendant, Garrick Riley, stepped in to help.
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Garrick gave Gabby first choice on drinks for the flight. He sat next to her, answered all of her questions about the flight, and let her hold onto his arm during difficult moments.
Erika felt such extreme gratitude that she shared the whole story on Facebook, and the sweet story went viral.
A few years ago, mom Erika Jeorgean Swart was flying alone with her three children from Orlando, Florida, to Newark, New Jersey.
As you can imagine, she had her hands pretty full.
Erika's oldest daughter, 9-year-old Gabby, has severe flight anxiety. She also has type 1 diabetes.
As the flight began to take off, Gabby started to panic. She was so scared that she was biting her fingernails. Erika tried her best to comfort her daughter from across the aisle, but she couldn't go sit next to her because she had two other younger children to care for.
That's when an angel of a flight attendant, Garrick (Jovan) Riley, stepped in. He noticed that Gabby was struggling and asked Erika if she was OK, to which Erika replied, "I don't know."
Somehow, Gabby successfully made it through takeoff. As a show of comfort, Garrick offered her the very first drink on the plane — whatever she wanted.
Gabby's anxiety level spiked again at various times through the trip, and Garrick was there for her through it all.
"Throughout the flight he tried making her laugh and bringing her special drinks," Erika wrote.
Garrick also answered all of Erika's questions about the plane and safety. He even let her track the flight's progress through an app on his own phone.
At one point, the plane encountered turbulence, and Gabby became so panicked that she had trouble breathing and was in tears. Garrick offered to sit next to her, and she accepted. He remained there for the rest of the trip.
Erika shared the entire story on Facebook, along with a photo of Gabby and Garrick together on the plane.
"He suggested they talk to distract her from thinking about the landing so they talked for around 30 minutes about everything from his daughter who is the same age to her pets to what grade she is going into," Erika wrote. "During extremely rough turbulence she began crying and grabbed his arm, he gently told her she could hang on as long as she needed to."
"Just after this due to the extreme stress she was under her blood sugars began dangerously crashing," Erika continued. "He got up from his seat to get her an orange juice and came right back to sit with her. She asked again if she could continue to hold his arm while the plane was landing. He of course agreed."
Eventually, Gabby made it back onto solid ground in New Jersey.
People were incredibly moved by Garrick's touching show of compassion.
After the flight was over, the flight attendant congratulated Gabby over the intercom for overcoming her fear of flying, and the entire plane clapped for her.
"It was a wonderful experience on Southwest. We are forever grateful to have met such a beautiful, selfless soul," Erika wrote.
Erika posted the story in hopes that Garrick would receive some sort of recognition from Southwest for going above and beyond for her daughter.
"We're so quick to complain when something goes wrong, but rarely think to share positive experiences," Erika told Today.
Southwest responded to the praise with a statement to Today:
“We are thankful that Garrick was able to assist this young traveler and alleviate some of the anxiety that she and her family were feeling while onboard. We are proud of our 50,000 employees who demonstrate remarkable care and concern for customers every day and on every flight.”
Flight anxiety is a common and challenging issue, even for many adults.
And flight attendants aren't the only people who can help strangers get through their fear of flights. In the comments on Erika's post, people shared other similar moments of compassion.
Erika was moved by the stories.
"When you're afraid like that, you can feel so alone," she said. "To have grown adults show compassion for a difficult moment… we don’t have to jump to be judgmental and hard on people. We all have our reasons for these things."
Sometimes, soothing someone's fears can be as simple as holding their hand.
Flight attendants like this are absolutely amazing, and they should always be praised for their hard work.
